Rhizome short. Stems central, tufted, erect, triquetrous (angles prominent to narrowly winged), smooth, 15-100 cm by 1-2 mm, surrounded at the base by a few brownish sheaths or their fibrous remains. Leaves subbasal, sometimes one higher on the stem, shorter than to as long as the stem, flat, rather weak, scabrid at the top, 3-10 mm wide; sheaths pale to whitish. Inflorescence with 3-7 spikelets, erect; terminal spikelet male (sometimes gynaecandrous), slenderly cylindric (or clavate), 1-3 cm by 2-4 mm, lateral ones female (rarely androgynous), oblong-cylindric, sublax-flowered, 1-3 cm by 5-8 mm, upper erect, crowded with the male spikelet, sessile or very shortly peduncled, lower distant on included to long-exserted, slender, smooth peduncles, often with 1-3 shorter spikelets branching from their peduncles. Bracts foliaceous, exceeding the inflorescence, lower long-sheathing, upper much shorter, scarcely to shortly sheathing. Glumes oblong-ovate, acute, very thin, dirty white with 3-nerved, greenish, central stripe, muticous or mucronulate, rarely with a short awn, 3-5.5 mm long. Utricles fusiform-ellipsoid, trigonous, subcoriaceous, densely and strongly many-nerved, glabrous, straight, suberect, shortly stipitate, olivaceous, 5.5-7.5 by 1.5-2 mm, gradually narrowed into the conical, straight, bidentate beak; teeth 0.25-0.75 mm long, hardly diverging, smooth. Nut oblong-obovoid to suborbicular, triquetrous with prominent angles, with faces shallowly concave below, very shortly stipitate, abruptly shortly beaked, 2.25-3 mm long. Style-base not thickened. Stigmas 3.
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